[ Luke Myers wrote in 160203 MMDigest:

> The reason is that the pneumatics on the early model have completely
> unnecessary openings in the back, that should have never been there
> in the first place!

Hi Luke,  I have never even seen a Steger Natural Player and I know
nothing about this make in particular, but I can tell you this --
that Steger player piano played just fine when it left the factory.
Maybe it didn't sound like a Steinway, but it certainly played rolls.

It's very tempting to blame a design error when you can't figure out
why something old (or new) doesn't work as you would like it to, but
there is no way that the Steger Company would have sold a non-working
player piano.

Many times I have found a 'repair' that was supposed to improve a music
box or barrel organ.  Invariably, there was no fault in the original
design.  The person who tried to fix it just didn't understand the
design and the problem.

Barrel organs are a good example.  People making a new organ today
often design a new and better way to make a bellows or a tracking bar
or a pipe.  The people who made these organs a century ago were not
idiots or fools and they certainly were not stupid.  They had 50 to
100 years of experience building organs and they knew what they were
doing.

Okay, they might have used less expensive materials or a less precise
design to save money or get around a patent, but the products they made
definitely worked when they left the workshop.

Occasionally you will find that a modern material is an improvement,
like using Delrin for a bearing or a piece of high quality plywood for
a large, thin panel.  Most often the original material was as good or
even better than the modern replacement.

But you can bet that the hole you discovered in the bellows was there
for a good reason.  Figure out the reason and your piano will play
again.

Regards,
Craig Smith

P.S.: By the way, could the holes have something to do with the bleeds??